Isaac’s
Salvation

“…For they are not all Israel, which are
of Israel: Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all
children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.” – Rom. 9:6-7

“Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are thechildrenofpromise. But as
thenhe that was born after the
flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, evensoitisnow. Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast
out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir
with the son of the freewoman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the
bondwoman, but of the free.” – Galatians 4:28-31

“Born After Spirit” – Gal. 4:29

“Children of the Bondwoman” – Gal. 4:31

“Children of the Free” – Gal. 4:31

“Children of Promise” – Gal. 4:28

“In Isaac shall thy seed be called” (Rom. 9:7)

As it is commonly understood among all
true Christians, theNew Testament
Gospel-calling is for sinners who were once “without Christ”, “having no hope
and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:12), but the Jews were sinners too, my
reader! The Jews were born sinners just like the Gentiles! Do you know what
that means, my reader? All the Jews which were the children of Abraham
according to the flesh, were sinners, but all the Jews who were the children
of Abraham according to the flesh and spirit, were saints. The Jews must be
born again! Consider Isaac, the aforementioned example cited from Romans 9:7.
Consider Ishmael, cited in Galatians 4:28-31 in the adjacent text-box.
Consider the over-arching theme of Israelite Church History presented in
Romans 9:6-7, that not all physical Israelites are spiritual Israelites, so
to speak. Not all of the physical seed of Abraham are the spiritual seed of
Abraham, so to speak. Not all physical Jews are the real Jews, so to speak.
What does it all mean?

My reader, it means just what scripture said! This is not
confusing. At first, every physical son of Abraham was lost and without God
just like the Gentiles are, that is, as long as they continue to be once-born
Jews according to the flesh. By the second birth men became true Jews according
to the Spirit, even back in Abraham and Isaac’s day (according to Galatians
4:28-31 & Romans 9:6-7)! This means that until the second-birth, they too
had their “understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through
the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart” (Eph.
4:18), just like the Gentiles, despite any benefits which may accompany the Jewish lineage (Rom. 3:1-2, 9:4-5). This reality is plainly stated by God in the
description of the 1st century Jews after the flesh: “God hath given
them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they
should not hear… their eyes [were] darkened, that they may not see, and bow
down their back alway” (Rom. 11:8-10). My reader, these spiritually-blinded
Jews were men who claimed their right to salvation simply because they were the
physical seed of Abraham (“We have
Abraham to our father”-Lk.3:8)… but how blinded they were!

As the
aforementioned examples of darkened Jews, so it was for Ishmael, Esau, and all
those like them. They were enemies of the Gospel-calling, my reader. They were
castaways of “the called out ones”. They were born unto Abraham after the
flesh, yet never born into him, or God, after the Spirit. The Apostle Paul
cites the perpetuity of “the second-birth Gospel” as an Old Testament and New
Testament reality in Galatians 4:28-30, my reader! Paul emphasized that the
seed of Abraham was at enmity one with another in two representative
spiritual families,and he states that, as it was then,
even so it is now in the New Testament dispensation: “But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him
that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now” (Gal. 4:29). Could
this be any clearer? This is an inerrant interpretation of Jewish Church
History. The two different origins of birth represent two different, irreconcilablefamilies, families that are without
friendship, so that for the security of salvation with the second-born Family of God, there was a necessity of separation.Thus it was said, not by Sarah alone, but (as Paul declares), by the Holy Ghost: “cast outthe bondwoman and her son” (Gal. 4:30)! Because of
what is unquestionably clear let me question you again, my reader: do you know
that the spiritual reality of being “born again” is here affirmed to be an OT
and NT means of salvation (here in Galatians 4:28-30)? Jesus Christ shamed
Nicodemus for his ignorance of the second birth Gospel-call of salvation! Jesus
Christ understood this to reveal just how fallen and degenerate Israel was,
that their pastoral rulers like Nicodemus knew nothing of the second birth.
Expressing this, Jesus said, “Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not
these things” (John 3:10)? What about you, my reader? What about us?

It is
important to note that the verse, “In Isaac shall thy seed be called” (Rom. 9:7), was quoted by Paul
from Genesis Chapter 21. Paul was making theological conclusions about
salvation and Church History while under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost.
Please consider the passage which was available to Paul, my reader. Can you
detect God’s argument?

“And
the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had
spoken. For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set
time of which God had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of his son
that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac. And Abraham circumcised
his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him. And Abraham was
an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him. And Sarah said, God
hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. And she said,
Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck?
for I have born him a son in his old age. And the child grew, and was weaned:
and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned. And Sarah
saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking. Wherefore she said unto
Abraham, CAST
OUT this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not
be heir with my son, even with Isaac. And the thing was very grievous in
Abraham's sight because of his son. And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be
grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all
that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. And also of the son of the
bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed. And Abraham rose up
early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto
Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she
departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba” (Genesis 21:1-14).

The Lord
“called” forth the promised child, Isaac, into a second birth and spiritual
inheritance (Gal. 4:28-31, Gal. 3:14), and this calling – without
exception – brings men unto God in saving separation and holiness. In the same breath in
which Isaac was called, simultaneously, that which was of the flesh was castaway.
Isaac was “called”
away from the flesh, and, thus, Ishmael was “cast out” from the Spirit of God. How
was Ishmael discerned as a once-born imposter who could not dwell together in
unity with the people of God? The once-born child was “mocking”, as Genesis 21
revealed. This “mocking” was a small example of what Paul interpreted as a
lifestyle of all-out persecution proportionate to the spiritual enmity that
existed between the two children, the once-born against the twice-born. This
was not some happenchance and childish mocking, as some might suppose. This
“mocking” was a first-mention exemplification of a whole race of Last Day
people who are called “mockers”. Jude said, “there should be mockers in the
Last Time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts” (Jude 1:18). Such men
are of the same spiritual family which God forced Jeremiah to separatefrom, Jeremiah confessing, “I sat not in the assembly
of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of Thy hand: for Thou hast
filled me with indignation” (Jer. 15:17). So what is this once-born “mocker”,
Ishmael, doing in the assembly of The Church in Abraham’s day? God said to
Abraham, “in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice” (Gen.
21:12). She said, “the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son”
(Gen. 21:10), and she was right.

How
could a once-born child of Abraham be an heir to the Kingdom of God, which is
Heaven? This blessing belongs to the twice-born spiritual sons of Abraham and
God, the true heirs (Gal. 4:28-31, Gal. 3:14). Thus, in confirmation to this,
the New Testament warns men of heaven and hell in these terms: “the unrighteous
shall not inherit the Kingdom of God”
(1 Cor. 6:9-10, Gal. 6:19-21, Eph. 5:5). Even though Ishmael was physically
circumcised, his physical circumcision was accounted by God as uncircumcised
because he failed to “keep the righteousness of the Law” (Rom. 2:26), he was a
mocker. Ishmael was a mocker (a presumptuous sinner and a scorner) --- to whom,
God said, “cast out” and “cut off” (Prov. 22:10, Num. 15:30-31, Gen. 17:14). I
repeat, Ishmael’s lack of spiritual circumcision was manifest in that he failed
to “keep the righteousness of the Law” by faith through grace via regeneration,
thus he was not a real son of Abraham according to God (Rom. 2:25-29).

By the
chronicles of salvation in their very beginnings as traced from the life of
Abraham and Isaac, we can understand the argument of God which develops as
follows.

#1)Abraham
was called out into separation & holiness from Terah.

BY LAW => circumcision (both physical and spiritual) sanctified the “called out” company, and without it all
men were “cut off” (Gen. 17:14).

#2)Isaac
was called out into separation & holiness from Ishmael.

Ishmael
was physically circumcised but he was still cast away. Galatians 4:28-31
explains that he was once-born and unspiritual, and therefore excommunicated
from those who were twice-born and spiritual. By the language of shadows given
in the Law we can understand that, to be born
again is to be circumcised again.
The first and physical birth into Abraham’s family and the first and physical
circumcision of the Law are of no profit if there is no second birth and second
circumcision, spiritually speaking.